Chennai, Nov 20 (PTI) Two scientists from a top ocean institute will pilot a 28-tonne indigenously built manned submersible up to 500 metres deep off Chennai coast early next year, marking India’s entry in the coveted group of select countries with such capabilities.
India’s own aquanauts – Ramesh Raju and Jatinder Pal Singh – from the National Institute of Ocean Technology (NIOT) will pilot the Matsya-6000 to unravel the mysteries of the ocean as part of India’s Deep Ocean Mission.
“We have explored the ocean bed at greater depths using remotely operated vehicles. This is for the first time we will be sending humans at a depth of 6,000 metres and safety is paramount for this mission,” Balaji Ramakrishnan, Director, NIOT, told PTI here.
India’s Samudrayaan project, spearheaded by the Ministry of Earth Sciences, is also considered as a reflection of the spirit of self-reliance as global tenders were issued twice to procure a manned deep sea submersible, which ran into technology denials, prompting the government to develop the vessel in-house.
“We took it up as a challenge. We have the expertise to dive under water, but only up to 1000 metres. Once we embarked on the project and started travelling to allied labs, we found that expertise and technologies were available within the country in laboratories of DRDO and CSIR, and institutes of ISRO,” Ramakrishnan said.
The scientists believe that sending humans to explore the undersea world expands possibilities of new discoveries exponentially and they are trained to make decisions on the spot.
“No camera can match the human eye. It has a different perception that will give a lot of insights to the deep sea floor,” Sathia Narayanan, Project Director, Samudrayaan, told PTI.
The deep ocean is home to several unexplored minerals, fuels, and biodiversity resources and only a few countries such as the United States, Russia, China, Japan, and France have the capability to carry out exploration at such depths. India will join this select group of nations with the success of the Samudrayaan project.
India has a 11,098 km-long coastline and the government has pushed for a blue economy policy to harness ocean resources for economic growth.
A short walk from Ramakrishan’s office within the NIOT campus, the Matsya-6,000, India’s home-built deep sea submersible is taking shape. The 2.25 metre diameter sphere made of boiler steel, sits comfortably on the exo-structure carrying within it high-density Lithium-Polymer (Li-Po) batteries, drop weight emergency escape systems, main and variable ballast tanks, propellers and emergency buoys that are part of the drag anchor emergency rescue system.
The Matsya-6000 will first take scientists up to a depth of 500 metres early next year to begin. It is the maximum depth at which naval submarines operate. Indian scientists plan to dive to over 10 times that depth in 2027, when ISRO will attempt taking Indian astronauts on a spaceflight on the Gaganyaan mission.
To dive to 6,000 metres depth, the personnel sphere made of boiler steel will be replaced by a titanium sphere which is being fabricated at ISRO’s Liquid Propulsion Systems Centre at Bengaluru.
The Bengaluru lab developed the electron beam welding facility to build the titanium alloy sphere with 80 mm thick walls to withstand 600 bar pressure experienced at 6,000 metre depth.
The Matsya-6000 is an autonomous vehicle that can travel to the bottom of the sea at a speed of 30 metres per minute. It is equipped with portholes and external lights for illuminating the dark depths. The research vehicle will also have robotic arms to collect samples, and external cameras.
All the equipment will be certified by DNV – a global assurance and risk management organisation – making them light to dive and sturdy enough to withstand the pressure of the water column, which increases by one atmospheric pressure for every 10m.
“The DNV certification for every component will make Matsya-6000 one of the safest vessels to undertake deep ocean exploration,” Sethuraman Ramesh, Group Head, Deep Sea Technology, NIOT, said.
In August, the two scientists had travelled to a depth of 5000 metres onboard the French submersible Nautile. The journey gave them rare insights into operation of the submersible and the experiences are proving to be handy in development of the Matsya-6000. PTI SKU SKU DV DV
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